We’re building our home. We have an open floor plan- the kitchen is open to the living space and dining area. Our kitchen cabinets are rustic hickory including the face of our island, the flooring is black tile. Our living room has vaulted ceilings that we plan to do in knotty tongue and groove pine. The foyer area in the living room is black tile matching the kitchen and has a knotty pine built in bench cabinet unit. Our dining room furniture is medium-dark wood and the living room furniture will be lighter wood and color scheme with the exception of the tv stand which will be darker wood - so there will be darker wood accents throughout the home.

My dilemma; what color laminate flooring should we put down for the floors throughout these rooms. The living room, dining room and hallway will all be the same flooring. The laminate I keep being drawn towards is medium-dark. However my husband and I are thinking lighter floors may look better even though we haven’t been able to find light flooring we love within our price range. We’d prefer the wood grain texture because we’re going with a more rustic feel in the home, as well as a wider plank laminate. Should we go with the darker flooring or stick with trying to find a lighter laminate to blend with the light cabinets and ceiling?

I’ve attached photos I have although it doesn’t seem to offer much help since it’s all under construction. The laminate flooring pictured is one that we found and like but is of the medium dark color scheme.